Bill Would Give Contractors More Time to Sign up For Lead-Safe Certification Training
A bill with an amendment to modify a controversial Environmental Protection Agency regulation passed in the Senate on May 27 and the two houses of Congress have made plans to conference their two versions of the bill.
The regulation in question—the “Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program LRRP”—implements a new rule that requires renovation and repair contractors working on homes, schools and day care centers built before 1978 to be lead-safe certified as approved by the EPA or face hefty fines.
The goal of the rule is to protect people’s health, especially children’s, the EPA said in a press release.
One of the bigger problems, opponents say, is the EPA overlooked a crucial step in making the regulation a costly reality. There are not enough certified trainers to accommodate the demand of contractors across the country.
The limited number of training providers hurts contractors who must go out of their way to find or wait on training. A May 26 press release from the office of Senator Susan Collins R-Maine points out that there are only three EPA-certified trainers in Maine, forcing hundreds of contractors to wait for training.
The amendment to the Fiscal Year 2010 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations H.R. 4899 bill aims to protect contractors against EPA fines if they sign up for training by September 30, 2010.
Another dilemma with the regulation is the EPA’s elimination of the regulation’s opt-out option—contractors working in homes without children and/or pregnant women need not be trained. The removal of the opt-out doubles the number of potential contractor jobs subject to the rule, exacerbating the backlog of people waiting to be trained.
In a letter to the EPA dated November 27, 2009, the Office of Advocacy advised against a proposed amendment to eliminate the opt-out option in the rule.
“Under the current ‘opt-out’ provision, the homeowner may choose whether or not to comply with the full set of LRRP requirements,” the letter reads.
Advocacy “supports EPA’s effort to impose reasonable minimum work practice standards, including clean-up standards that will ensure protection of the health of young children and pregnant women.” However, due to the high expense and current lack of training providers, Advocacy opposes the expansion of this rule.
—Reese Higgins, Office of Advocacy Intern
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Posted by admin
on Jun 8 2010. Filed under Lead Contamination.
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